Germans see Trump as bigger challenge than Turkey or Russia

Germans see U.S. President Donald Trump as a bigger challenge for their country's foreign policy than authoritarian leaders in Turkey, North Korea or Russia, according to a survey published Tuesday.

In the poll by the Körber Foundation, 26 percent of Germans named refugees as the greatest foreign policy challenge.

Germany's relationship with the United States and Trump was placed second, polling at 19 percent. More than half of the respondents, 56 percent, rate the current relationship between the U.S. and Germany as somewhat or very bad.

Relations with Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan followed in third place, with 17 percent of respondents seeing them as a challenge. A total of 74 percent think Germany should advocate breaking off EU accession talks with Turkey.

North Korea was cited as the biggest challenge by 10 percent of respondents, while 8 percent selected relations with Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Only 5 percent thought cohesion in Europe and the EU was the biggest foreign policy challenge. However, 59 percent of those questioned think the EU is not on the right track, the poll found.

The study also found that 54 percent of Germans reject French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal for an EU finance minister. But 63 percent consider France to be Germany's most or second most important partner.

A sample of 1,005 people was questioned for the poll, which was carried out in October.

Roland

It is another sign of this pathological German self loathing. Look at Trump he’s German by ancestry but more then that he is more German then the Germans. Authoritarian leaning,love of power, loud mouthed,militaristic Those are traditional German characteristics. He loves military parades for god sake.

Posted on 12/5/17 | 12:58 PM CET

dc

Germany apparently needs a psychotherapy urgently.
Otherwise we will see repeat of German–Sovie1 Non-aggression Pac1 of 23 August 1939 type between Germany and ‘peace loving’ Russia concluded soon.
And everyone knows what were its consequences for Europe.

Posted on 12/5/17 | 2:44 PM CET

mh

Didn’t Russia install this Philistine monster as President in the first place?

Posted on 12/5/17 | 6:43 PM CET

michael iger

Not surprising Trump is inexperienced in international affairs, intellectually lazy, stuck in his ways which comes across as arrogance. Certainly not someone that instills confidence in the world or with most in America. Its the West’s penance for not taking Putin seriously when he started his clandestine warfare. Germans are clear headed and will make the best of this situation, given Trump doesn’t end it all for us globally with his hand on the button. Trump sure does discredit America’s blind belief in the wisdom of the electorate; maybe, next time they will vote with their eye’s open for a change.